THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 367 



dealers and consumers. Various experiments have been made, but the 

 waste and expense arising from the worm makes the canning unprofit- 

 able. 



There is need of a smooth, firm, red, hardy, thrifty tomato. On 

 account of the irregular shape of the variety now largely grown there 

 is gi'eat waste in peeling. 



EASTERN MARKETS. 



There are some questions of vital interest to canners and growers 

 alike, which I present for your consideration from the canner's point 

 of view: First of all, the reputation of California fruit in Eastern 

 markets. Most people there say, "0, yes, your California fruit is large, 

 and showy, but it has not the flavor of our Eastern fruit." If you 

 pin them down you find very often that they have been tempted by 

 some showy peaches which had been picked green before they were fit 

 to eat and rushed on to the Eastern market. The consumer does not 

 stop to think that this peach had to travel three thousand miles or 

 more during a period of a week or ten days. He only knows that it 

 has not the flavor of the Eastern or Southern peach, which may have 

 been picked only the day before he ate it, and so this prejudice arises 

 against all California fruit, whether fresh or canned or dried. I some- 

 times wonder if the shippers of fresh peaches to the Eastern markets 

 really get satisfactory returns, and whether they could not be led to 

 see that they could make more money out of pears or plums or other 

 fruits. Under like conditions of harvesting and consumption I believe 

 we have as fine flavored peaches, pears and plums — yes, and apples, 

 too — as are grown anywhere ; but you can 't make the average Eastern 

 buj^er of fresh fruit believe it. 



Another difficulty with which the canner has to contend, and which 

 limits the output, is the stupid prejudice which associates ptomaine 

 poisoning with canned foods. Whenever a person has a cramp or a 

 mysterious pain in the stomach, the average ill-informed person begins 

 to inquire if any canned foods have been eaten, and if at any time 

 within two weeks preceding the person may by any chance have had 

 any canned food, this luckless article is made the scapegoat for obvious 

 indiscretions of the diet, for chronic ailments and disorders. News- 

 paper reporters hail the news with delight, the headliner does the rest. 

 The sane verdict of the intelligent doctor giving the actual cause has 

 no news value and no publicity. The facts are that very little is known 

 of ptomaines by the most skilled physicians, but they do know that 

 they are peculiar to animal products and are practically never found 

 in fruits or vegetables. It is but common obvious sense to say that 

 canned foods are a thousand times safer and freer from contamination 

 and infection than the same foods handled fresh from the ordinary- 

 market, and for the simple reason that in the processing or manufac- 

 ture the canned foods are necessarily sterilized and hermetically sealed. 



The extraordinary health standard maintained by our troops in the 

 Philippines was made possible by the use of canned foods instead of 

 the fresh fruits and vegetables of the tropics. So says Brigadier 

 General Sharpe, the head of the Commissary Department of the United 

 States Army, 



